2023 SW USA Road trip: The view from the tent flap: Cool Colorado- Rafting in the Rockies (& so much more!)

Despite the scary adventure of the electrical storm, we have had a blast in Colorado. We've been here just under 2 weeks (not including our 5 days for Mesa Verde & Cortez on the other side a month ago). Originally I wasn't looking forward to Colorado as it sounded fairly similar to BC but its been a breath of cool fresh air and a surprise. Here are a few highlights:

Great Sand Dunes National Park was a surprise. We were coming out of the desert and were not exactly excited to see more sand. However the dunes are the tallest in North America and abut a mountain range. Colorado is also full of flowing water (so exciting!!) and we got a taste of it with the magical Medano Creek which flows only in May & June as snow melts and floods across the bottom of the dunes. It comes in strange, shallow waves as small sand dams break and flood water forward. Easy to cross. Although hiking the dunes is a challenge, the kids were so stoked about the running and sliding down of them that they hiked quite high up--we probably hiked up for ~1hr. Then we got a panorama of valley and 2 mountain ranges before running down. We won't miss our first real taste of hungry mosquitoes but it was worth a stop for sure (and be sure to camp if you go as the lines to get in between 9-1 were ridiculous--they haven't figured out timed entry like other parks).

Where the dune meets the forest & the mountains-- Great Sand Dunes National Park

Medano Creek- flows May/June

Colorado Springs & Denver: We had 2 nights each in Colorado Springs and Denver and had some tastes of city life. There are lots of fun activities to do in both and we really enjoyed cycling the numerous paths. In CS we really enjoyed heading the short distance to Manitou Springs, an adjacent town with a colourful history. There you can walk around and taste all the unchlorinated natural springs in little fountains around town and visit the penny arcade.

We tasted 5 of 8 fountains in Manitou Springs

Nearby we also had a blast at the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site which we all loved--hands on history, with actors while traveling through time from prior to settler introduction to the 1900's. It was like a smaller version of Barkerville but equally good in its own way.

We cycled to town each night by urban streams to dinner with very little time spent on streets. There is a sizable homeless population living along the trail near where we stayed but maybe not too much different than in Victoria?

In Denver we stayed in the Cherry Creek State Park which had the nicest reservoir we'd seen so far. Corwyn and I had a lovely kayak on the lake and we cycled around this park and later cycled into town to the confluence of 2 rivers. Denver also has an amazing science museum. We spent hours there avoiding a second electrical storm and still didn't get to about 1/3 of the exhibits.

The Rockies of Colorado. Now we've driven about 2hrs northwest of Denver into the Colorado Rockies. We're staying in a high valley in the town of Fraser which is cool and lush and full of fun. We've met up with Meme and Tate (my parents) for the rest of the journey and we've challenged them to many fun outdoor activities in the thin air including:
-Horseback Riding (Vera's choice)

-Class 3 River Rafting

-Alpine Tundra and Colorado River source valley hiking

Vera's wish--to ride a horse.

Meme and Tate hiking in the tundra, Rocky Mt. National Park

Downstream Adventures- 90 min's of fun on Clear Creek, Co.

We've seen TONNES of animals (2 moose, 50+ wapiti (elk), 20ish bighorn sheep, 10 mountain goats including one licking our car and other cool things like fawns and white pelicans. So far everyone is mostly in one piece (the 3 things listed above are mega adventures especially for my mom) and we're all having a great time. 2 more days here and then we're off to our final big leg of the journey--Wyoming.